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TORONTO – More than 600 professional engineers and land surveyors who work for the Ontario government have started a work-to-rule campaign and warn that their job action could affect the province’s ability to make progress on key infrastructure projects.

Their bargaining association says members’ earnings have fallen so far behind that they sometimes earn half of what people in similar positions at municipalities make. They have been without a contract for 20 months.

Nihar Bhatt, president of Professional Engineers Government of Ontario, said his members want to see a “significant” increase in pay, though he did not give specific percentages.

“What we’re looking for is market alignment,” he said.

“We are behind the market by 30 to 50 per cent. Obviously, nobody’s logically going to think that that’s what we’re going to get, but we need to start moving in that direction.”

A spokesperson for Treasury Board President Caroline Mulroney said the government stands ready to negotiate in good faith at the next scheduled mediation later this month.

“Since July 2023, the government has held numerous bargaining sessions with the Professional Engineers Government of Ontario bargaining team in an effort to reach a fair deal at the negotiating table,” Liz Tuomi wrote.

“The government’s latest offer recognizes the specialized role of PEGO employees.”

Tuomi did not provide details about the government’s offer.

The engineers and land surveyors are employed by several government ministries and agencies and do work related to the provincial highway network, the Ontario Building Code, land surveying, fire safety, food and workplace safety, clean air and safe drinking water.

Low wages are creating a recruitment and retention crisis that could lead to delays on government priorities such as Highway 413 and the Bradford Bypass, Bhatt said.

“Fifty per cent of our membership has less than five years of experience,” he said.

“You can’t have like half the membership sitting here with almost no experience and being thrust into all these duties, because the senior people have gone to the lower levels of government, ironically. So the issue is recruitment and retention, and that flows from a fundamental structural misalignment with the market.”

PEGO and the Treasury Board have an agreement in place as to the maintenance of essential and emergency services during a legal strike, the association said.

But they are now engaging in a work-to-rule campaign, which includes not doing unpaid overtime or working outside of their set hours, not doing work that is supposed to be done by managers within the public service and not doing work for more than one position.

Subsequent escalation could include strategic withdrawals of labour by certain groups of employees that could affect the ability to advance and manage critical infrastructure, the association says.

“We don’t want to do this, but next month, when major milestones are coming up for the Bradford Bypass, and they decide not to review the design requirements, what happens then?” Bhatt said.

“We are not a profession prone to threats. We don’t want to do this. We like to build stuff, and we like to do it right, and we like to do it safely, but we can’t be doing it in the way they’re doing it.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 8, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

WINNIPEG – The Manitoba government has apologized in the legislature for clawing back federal benefit payments to kids in the child welfare system.

The apology is part of a settlement of a class-action lawsuit, approved by a judge last month, that will see the province pay out $530 million.

The agreement will compensate roughly 30,000 children who spent time in child welfare, some of whom have since become adults, for money the province took between 2005 and 2019.

The province clawed back a monthly federal benefit called the Children’s Special Allowance.

It goes to agencies that care for children and mirrors the monthly Canada Child Benefit cheques given to parents raising children across the country.

Families Minister Nahanni Fontaine says the province is sorry for having withheld the money.

“This was not just a financial mistake. It was a profound injustice leaving some of our most vulnerable children without the supports they needed and rightfully deserved,” Fontaine said Tuesday.

“These funds should have nourished your dreams (and) helped you learn, grow and flourish.”

The dispute dates back to 2005, when the NDP government of the day started the clawback and said it was warranted.

In 2019, the Progressive Conservative government stopped the practice but also tried to ban any lawsuits over the clawback in a bill that was later struck down.

The plaintiffs said the money was supposed to pay for recreation programs, cultural activities, hockey and a host of other items not covered by basic child welfare funding.

More than 80 per cent of kids in child welfare in Manitoba are Indigenous.

The province and lawyers for the lead plaintiffs later negotiated. They reached the settlement in March, several months after the NDP was back in office.

Kris Saxberg, one of the lawyers for the plaintiffs, has said claim forms are to start being processed in January.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 8, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

REGINA – Saskatchewan NDP Leader Carla Beck is promising to invest $1.1 billion to help fix a health system struggling with staff shortages and long waits for care.

Beck made the pledge as her party campaigns to win government in the Oct. 28 election.

She says the money would aim to reduce wait times for treatment by focusing on hiring, training, recruiting and retaining front-line health workers.

She says the situation is critical, pointing to a briefing note last month to the government from the Saskatchewan Government and General Employees’ Union.

The note highlights concerns that staffing shortages in cancer care are creating dangerous domino effects of staff burnout along with delayed and cancelled tests, putting patients at risk.

Beck says it’s up to everybody in Saskatchewan to come together and put an end to the health-care crisis.

“This election, you have a choice,” Beck said in a statement Tuesday.

“We can ensure that our loved ones are getting the care they deserve. We can invest in hiring more health-care workers and rebuild our health-care system.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 8, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.